Britain for the British

by Robert Blatchford

Thus: A man owns a piece of land in a town. As the town increases its business and population, the owner of the land raises the rent. He can get double the rent because the town has doubled its trade, and the land is worth more for business purposes or for houses. Has the landlord increased the value? Not at all. He has done nothing but draw the rent. The increase of value is due to the industry or ability of the people who live and work in the town, chiefly, as Mr. Mallock claims, to different inventors. Do these inventors get the increased rent? No. Do the workers in the town get it? No. The landlord demands this extra rent, and the law empowers him to evict if the rent is not paid.

Next, let us see how the inventor is treated. If a man invents a machine and patents it, the law allows him to charge a royalty for its use for the space of fourteen years.

At the end of that time the patent lapses, and the invention may be worked by anyone.

Observe here the difference of the treatment given to the inventor and the landlord.

The landlord does not make the land, he does not till the land, he does not improve the land; he only draws the rent, and he draws that for ever. His patent never lapses; and the harder the workers work, and the more wealth inventors and workers produce, the more rent he draws—for nothing.

The inventor does make his invention. He is, upon Mr. Mallock's showing, the creator of immense wealth. And, even if he is lucky, he can only draw rent on his ability for fourteen years.

But suppose the inventor is a poor man—and a great many inventors are poor men—his chance of getting paid for his ability is very small. Because, to begin with, he has to pay a good deal to patent his invention, and then, often enough, he needs capital to work the patent, and has none.

What is he to do? He must find a capitalist to work the patent for him, or he must find a man rich enough to buy it from him.

And it very commonly happens, either that the poor man cannot pay the renewal fees for his patent, and so loses it entirely, or that the capitalist buys it out and out for an old song, or that the capitalist obliges him to accept terms which give a huge profit to the capitalist and a small royalty to the inventor.